CALF_News_August_September_2021

20 CALF News • August | September 2021 • www.calfnews.net By Patti Wilson Contributing Editor A mong the many executive orders (EO) President Biden has advanced is EO 14008, “Tack- ling the Climate Crisis at Home and Abroad.” It is also called 30 by 30, and more recently been retitled “America the Beautiful,” a moniker aimed at making the idea more palatable to the general public. It is the same tactic the Humane Society of the United States uses with puppies and kittens. The radical environmental activists behind this plan are aiming to “perma- nently protect 30 percent of America’s land and oceans by 2030.” They argue that climate change is manmade, and we are equally able to reverse the damage we have caused. Actions must be taken immediately to save the earth. Science and data, of course, do not support these ideas. This unconstitu- tional policy is being pushed by the far left, using scare tactics to facilitate a land grab of monumental proportions. It will effectively remove property rights across the United States. What Is It? Predicting that one-third of all species living in the United States will be extinct in 10 years, National Geographic maga- zine, along with Vice President Harris, determined that an area twice the size of Texas must be taken out of agricultural production and turned back to nature. Eventually, this includes the restoration of an ancient migratory route for wildlife, which could possibly be a great swath of land running from Canada to the Gulf of Mexico. This area is often referred to by urbanites as “flyover space.” The federal government owns 28 per- cent of the land in the United States, 12 percent of which is already permanently protected. That leaves the remaining 18 percent to be comprised of privately owned land. In the vernacular of the layman, this is called a land grab . Although President Biden has no con- stitutional authority to enact this measure, his administration has promised to use “every tool in the toolbox” to get it done. State Governments Pushing Back Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts has been traveling his state, holding town hall meetings, informing and warning citizens of the upcoming threat. (I attended a meeting in Broken Bow on June 7.) He warned that President Biden has a long history of not working or communicat- ing with state and local governments. Likewise, Vice President Harris will not talk to governors. It seems as though our current administration, according to Ricketts, is dismantling states’ rights. Governors have repeatedly asked ques- tions regarding the 30 by 30 issue, with no response whatever from our executive branch. “The fight is now in our own back- yard,” Ricketts says. What’s Biden’s Plan? According to Secretary of Agricul- ture Tom Vilsack, the entire program to take ag land out of production is strictly voluntary. There is no “land grab” being hatched in a subversive plot. Gov. Rickets, however, says that this is outright propaganda. Voluntary conservation easements, such as the Conservation Reserve Pro- gram (CRP), will remain available as a preferred method of government to enact easements on agricultural properties. However, Rickets warned to take any new or renewable contract to a lawyer before signing, as the fine print is likely to change, going forward. Even the Envi- ronmental Quality Incentives Program (EQIP) contracts to help ranchers pay for cross fencing and waterers may soon con- tain hidden agendas and demand more than anyone cares to give up. Beware of federal government help. Easements, for example, may written in to remain permanent, removing any use of land for you or your heirs going forward. Scarier Yet Here’s a scary fact: Taking 30 per- cent of our lands and oceans is only the first step being planned. According to “Nebraska’s Guide to Fight 30 by 30,” advocates are working toward the inter- national goal known as 50 by 50, or the “Half Earth” agenda, to permanently con- serve 50 percent of our lands and oceans worldwide by 2050. A long list of progressive elites and left- leaning environmental groups are funding and actively promoting the plan. One primary push is the Center for American Progress (CAP), a progressive organiza- tion funded by George Soros-backed foundations. Land is planned to be “permanently protected in its natural state,” which means off-limits to most human use. Proponents want CRP easements to be permanent. Community Fallout 30 by 30 threatens to obliviate rural communities. This is particularly true since there is no adequate local represen- tation being considered. The tax base on land would change, a point driven home by Ricketts. Lower land value assessment on conservation ground, as well as property tax paid by the government to states on federally owned or CRP land (at a grand price of Nebraska Gov. Pete Ricketts addresses a town hall meeting at Broken Bow, Neb., on June 7. President Biden’s 30 by 30 executive order was explained and discussed. Beware Biden's 30 by 30 Program Environmentalists Push America the Beautiful Plan